Hi everyone! <br><br>As JP mentioned during chapter Sunday night, one of our big focuses this quarter and next quarter is going to be election reform. Lowell and I, with the help of some of the other executive members, have come up with a bit of a new election process that we'd like to test out with Relay elections. The goal of these changes is to make elections more fair for everyone involved, especially the candidates. No one wants to run for a position if they are going to end up feeling attacked in the process. If it works, great! We'll make modifications and use it winter quarter. If not, we'll scrap the idea and as a chapter, we will figure something else out! Basically this is how it works:<br>
<ul><li>Nominations work the same way. Brothers are nominated, someone has to second the nomination, and the person has to accept. The brother still prepares a speech to give in front of chapter, and still fields questions from the current chair and/or other brothers.</li>
<li>In prior years, members could send any pros/cons they had before actual elections to the ombudsmen account. This is still the same, EXCEPT you must send it from your own email account. Using the anonymous account, though good in theory, can lead to people making claims that aren't true and that we can't verify before bringing them up. Remember that ANYTHING you send to the ombudsmen account remains anonymous: your concern would be read by us without your name or anything else that could lead to you being identified. This way if someone brings something up that is rather controversial, we can check with the person before bringing it up to the whole chapter.<br>
</li><li>You'll remember that previously, the brother was then asked to leave the room so pros and cons could be given about the brother. Everyone was asked to not repeat pros and cons to the candidate, and we all know that never happened. To combat the behind-the-back nature of this, the candidate will now have the option to stay in the room to respond to any criticism, or to leave the room in case they don't want to hear it. <br>
</li><li>Pros and cons will still go on as before, whether the candidate stays in the room or doesn't. If you have a pro/con to say, you can either just say it with the candidate there, or IM/Facebook chat Lowell or I (we're going to work out the details on that and let you know this Sunday for sure). Anything sent to us remains confidential, but your point is still made.</li>
</ul>I know this might not make sense right now (I learn things by actually going through them, so it's muddy to me as to how it will all work out), but please know that the goal of every change we've made is to make people feel more comfortable with running for positions and to avoid people feeling attacked while still making sure valid concerns are still addressed. As always, we are very open to suggestions as to how to make this the best possible process for all involved.<br>
<br>So, we will not be electing Relay next week (since we have to leave time for pros/cons to be sent to us), but nominations will still take place! Elections for the position will be the week after. If you have any questions regarding the position, please feel free to contact the Relay chairs or JP!!<br>
<br>Beth Brink<br><br>-- <br><div>Ombudsmen</div><div><a href="mailto:ombudsmen.aphiodeltagamma@gmail.com" target="_blank">ombudsmen.aphiodeltagamma@gmail.com</a></div><div><br></div><div>Beth Brink</div><div>(937) 536-6029</div>
<div><br></div><div>Lowell Berg</div><div>(914) 400-7712</div><br>